Bob Wilkins (born Robert Gene Wilkins; April 11, 1932 – January 7, 2009) was a
television personality
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
.
Wilkins was the creator and host of the popular television show ''
Creature Features
''Creature Features'' is a generic title for a genre of horror TV format shows broadcast on local American television stations throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The movies broadcast on these shows were generally classic and cult horror ...
'' that ran on
KTVU
KTVU (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Oakland, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside San Jose ...
in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
from 1971 to 1984.
The programming on ''Creature Features'' featured
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
and
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.
Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
s, ranging from classics such as ''
Bride of Frankenstein
''Bride of Frankenstein'' is a 1935 American science fiction horror film, and the first sequel to Universal Pictures' 1931 film ''Frankenstein''. As with the first film, ''Bride of Frankenstein'' was directed by James Whale starring Boris Karlo ...
'' to
B-grade
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...
obscurities like ''The Vulture''.
Wilkins' wit was very dry; it fit very well with the outrageously awful horror films he hosted. His approach suggested an aficionado's taste for genre cinema. His trade marks were his droll humor, his omnipresent
cigar
A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...
, and sitting in his iconic rocking chair.
KCRA-3 and KTXL-40 in Sacramento
Wilkins started his on-camera television career in 1963 at
KCRA-TV
KCRA-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Sacramento, California, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Stockton, California, Stockton-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KQCA (channel 58). Both stations ...
Channel 3 in
Sacramento, California
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
. He was writing and producing commercials for the station when he was tapped to be a fill-in host for an afternoon movie show in 1964. Wilkins was given his own time slot, hosting horror films on ''Seven Arts Theater'' (later advertised as ''Bob Wilkins Presents'' and ''The Bob Wilkins Show''), which followed the station's 11 p.m. newscast. The show debuted on September 10, 1966, with ''
Attack of the Mushroom People
is a 1963 Japanese horror film directed by Ishirō Honda. The film stars Akira Kubo, Kumi Mizuno and Kenji Sahara. It is partially based on William Hope Hodgson's short story "The Voice in the Night" and is about a group of castaways on an isl ...
'' being the featured film. After several successful years, he was courted by former KCRA manager Tom Breen, then at
KTVU
KTVU (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Oakland, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside San Jose ...
in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, to bring his show to the San Francisco Bay Area. Breen was one of Wilkins' best supporters at KCRA, who had always encouraged the then-young host to try novel things, and to never be afraid of going for it. Bob left KCRA on his own terms, with his last show broadcast on March 14, 1970. However, after starting a new show on KTVU, Bob returned to Sacramento television, this time at
KTXL
KTXL (channel 40) is a television station in Sacramento, California, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios on Fruitridge Road near the Oak Park district on the southern ...
Channel 40 on May 9, 1970 with ''The Bob Wilkins Double Horror Show'', an all-new production, which ran successfully for over a decade.
KTVU-2 in Oakland
On Saturday, January 9, 1971, after weeks of attention-grabbing teasers, ''Creature Features'' debuted on KTVU Channel 2 at 9:00 p.m. with ''
The Horror of Party Beach
''The Horror of Party Beach'' is a 1964 American horror film in the beach party genre, directed and co-produced by Del Tenney. The film, described as "a take-off on beach parties and musicals," is considered to be one of the worst films of all ...
'', and immediately became a tremendous ratings winner. In response, the show expanded to a
double feature
The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.
Opera use
Opera ho ...
format within its first year of broadcast on August 7, 1971. Another benchmark was when ''Creature Features'' ran the world television premiere of the already infamous 1968 horror film, ''Night of the Living Dead'', at 9:00 p.m. on January 1, 1972. So popular was Bob Wilkins' ''Creature Features'' that it would often beat network programming, such as ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'', in the local
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
. After six years, KTVU responded to popular demand by adding a single-movie Friday night show at 11:30 p.m., debuting on February 4, 1977. The following week, the Saturday Double Feature returned to a single-movie format starting at 11:30 p.m., and continued in this two-night format through Bob's last ''Creature Features'' show on February 24, 1979. Dropping the Friday night show, John Stanley took over the Saturday program at 11:00 p.m. on March 3, 1979.
During the height of his popularity, Wilkins, a soft-spoken, but sharp-witted character from Indiana, was able to produce and host a number of
prime time
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
specials, including ''The Star Trek Dream'' and ''The Bob Wilkins Super Horror Show'', as well as hosting occasional horror films on KTVU's weeknight ''8 O'Clock Movie'' show, in addition to making dozens of public appearances every year. Even with this seemingly heavy workload, including commuting every week to Sacramento from Oakland to tape his sister show on KTXL-40, he was first and foremost a devoted husband and father, coaching baseball at his son and daughter's school, and rarely staying up past 10 p.m. Eventually, Wilkins found himself, at the urging of KTVU management, joining the ''10 O'Clock News'' team in September 1972 as their weather reporter. After his two-year contract expired, he was eager to step down, as he didn't feel that he could be creative that late at night. In spite of this, he was nominated for a local
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for a ski report, which used footage from the opening ski chase scene from the 1969
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
adventure, ''
On Her Majesty's Secret Service On Her Majesty's Secret Service may refer to:
* ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (novel), a 1963 novel by Ian Fleming
* ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (film), a 1969 film adaptation of the novel
** ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (sou ...
''.
Captain Cosmic on KTVU-2
In 1977, Wilkins launched an afternoon children's program on KTVU, ''
Captain Cosmic ''Captain Cosmic'' was a late-afternoon weekday TV show aired in the San Francisco Bay Area on KTVU-2 from September 19, 1977 to January 18, 1980. The show was created, produced, and hosted by Bob Wilkins in the guise of ''Captain Cosmic'', airin ...
'', showcasing various sci-fi serials. such as ''
Spectreman
is a tokusatsu science fiction superhero television series. Produced by P Productions and created by producer Souji Ushio, the series aired on Fuji TV in Japan from January 2, 1971 to March 25, 1972 with a total of 63 episodes (divided into thre ...
,'' ''
The Space Giants
is the title and protagonist of a manga and tokusatsu TV series created by Osamu Tezuka. The TV series, produced by P Productions, Norway Productions and Krantz Films, was aired on Fuji TV from July 4, 1966, to June 26, 1967, lasting a tota ...
,'' ''
Ultraman
''Ultraman'', also known as the , is the collective name for all media produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad monsters. Debuting with ''Ultra Q'' and then ''Ultraman'' in 1966, the series is one ...
,'' ''
Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot
, also known as ''Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot'' in the United States, is a manga and tokusatsu series created by Mitsuteru Yokoyama. It is similar to Yokoyama's ''Tetsujin 28-go'' (known as ''Gigantor'' in the U.S.), but ''Giant Robo'' has ...
'', and ''
Star Blazers
''Star Blazers'' is an American animated television series adaptation of the Japanese anime series . ''Star Blazers'' was first broadcast in the United States in 1979. It was the first popular English-translated anime that had an overarching plo ...
''. Japanese imports were a prime focus, though the show also featured the 1936 Universal Pictures Serial ''
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...
,''
Gerry Anderson
Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...
's ''
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions for distributor I ...
,'' and the occasional movie serialized in five parts (''
Godzilla vs. the Thing'' and ''
Dagora, the Space Monster''). Donning a face-concealing helmet, Wilkins was uncredited, but fans of his ''Creature Features'' program recognized him immediately, while children who were not old enough to stay up late to watch ''Creature Features'' had no idea. Captain Cosmic's sidekick on the show was an actual, cable-controlled
automaton
An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...
, named "Wonder Robot 2T2" that emulated
R2-D2
R2-D2 () or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He has appeared in ten of the eleven theatrical ''Star Wars'' films to date. At various points throughout the course of the films, R2, ...
in the ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' series by uttering bleeps and blips (that only the good Captain could understand).
Return to advertising and retirement
At the height of his popularity, Wilkins decided to retire from television and go back into advertising. On February 24, 1979, after offering the job to several of his researchers, including film historian
David Del Valle
David Del Valle is a journalist, columnist, film historian, and radio and television commentator on horror, science-fiction, cult and fantasy films. Described by ''Entertainment Weekly'' as "Something of a cult celebrity himself," he was inducted i ...
, he relinquished the ''Creature Features'' hosting duties to ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' film critic
John Stanley (1979–1984). Wilkins continued his program on KTXL as ''The Bob Wilkins Double Horror Show'' from May 9, 1970 through February 14, 1981.
Although no longer a fixture on television, Wilkins periodically made appearances at comic book and fantasy conventions, film screenings and tributes, until two years before his death. He appeared at the 1976 Star Trek / Science Fiction convention InterCon in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
. After his departure from television, Wilkins concentrated on his advertising agency, which handled accounts such as the
Chuck E. Cheese
Chuck E. Cheese (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza and simply Chuck E. Cheese's) is an American family entertainment center and pizza restaurant chain founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan Bu ...
restaurant chain. In the 1990s, he and his wife, Sally, retired and moved to
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
.
Death
On August 14, 2007, John Stanley, Wilkins' replacement on ''Creature Features'', reported in an interview on the radio program ''
Coast to Coast'', that Wilkins had
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
and was then living in Sacramento.
At age 76, Bob Wilkins died on January 7, 2009 from complications of Alzheimer's disease in
Reno
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...
, Nevada.
Legacy
Wilkins' fans include actor
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
and Bay Area filmmaker
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...
, who watched the Sacramento programs as a youth in
Modesto
Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...
.
In 2008, a feature-length documentary on ''Creature Features'', ''
Watch Horror Films, Keep America Strong!'', debuted in several theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 75-minute film features interviews with hosts Bob Wilkins and John Stanley, as well as other key figures close to the show, both behind-the-scenes and in front of the cameras. This is interspersed with vintage clips spanning the history of the show, highlighting the creative and experimental era of local broadcasting.
References
External links
Official Bob Wilkins websiteBob Wilkins Blog*
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110720121701/http://opie.wvnet.edu/e-gor/tvhorrorhosts/hostsb.html#BobWilkins TV Horror Hosts Listing for Bob Wilkinsbr>
Creature Features opening sequence used circa 1979
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkins, Bob
1932 births
2009 deaths
American television personalities
Neurological disease deaths in Nevada
Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
Horror hosts
People from Hammond, Indiana